(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to guiding farm tractors and more particularly to the mounting of row followers upon the tractors. Farmers have ordinary skill in this art.
(2) Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,799, Barnes and Gary, discloses a row follower with a means for detecting misalignment of the tractor to a path to be followed which is transmitted to guidance of the tractor. The patent discloses a lift system including a cable connected to the shank of the row follower to lift the row follower when the tractor turns, backs up, or otherwise maneuvers.
The row follower shank will be damaged if the row follower is not disengaged from the ground before maneuvering the tractor in turning at the end of a row or by backing up. Normally, if the operation involves earth working, the plows will be lifted when the tractor is turned at the end of the row. However, on certain occasions the tractor may be backed up without lifting the plows and therefore the reversing of the tractor will almost indubitably cause damage to the row follower or to the encoder or other mechanism which detects the deviation and translates it into information used to guide the tractor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,990 to Ronny L. Barnes and Bryan R. Barnes discloses different type row followers but they also indicate that it is common practice at the present time to detect deviation and translate it into electrical signals by an encoder.
Also, the inventors of this application have filed a prior application having the common ownership of this application, disclosing encapsutating the encoder into a sturdy housing with an isolation of the encoder from a shaft to which the row followers are attached. Equipment as disclosed in that application has been in public use before the filing of this application.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,873 by Barnes and Ray, disclosed different types of row followers.